1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to browsing in an Internet infrastructure; and more particularly to a malware and viruses detection.
2. Related Art
The infiltration of viruses into computing devices over the Internet is a serious security threat. The virus code, herein called as malware code, comprises all type of malicious code targeted for damaging the file system of a computer and, in addition, negatively impact the performance of the computing devices and the speed of the Internet access. Some type of viruses replicate on their own and propagate causing flooding of packets on the net, thereby crippling an Internet service, or causing a denial of service problem.
Often, files are transferred between computers or downloaded from a server to a client device. Various file transfers to and from a client device may also take place from other peripheral devices connected directly to the client device and the client device. In both situations, there is a possibility of loss of files, system crash, network service degradation, etc., caused by viruses, Trojans, or other malware embedded in the files being transferred. The blocking of worms, adwares, spyware, etc., which constitutes the malware code, embedded in files that are transferred, is imperative for most computer users, but effective blocking of malware has always been a challenge.
Some browsers that are available in the market provide mechanisms to block “pop up ads,” and associated spyware. Some browsers have “adware blocking software” integrated into their feature set, but these are often not fully effective to the extent required by most users. On the other hand, currently available conventional anti-virus software such as Norton, McAfee and others tools do exist. However, these anti-virus protection programs are not adequate or effective in blocking some malware codes that sneak into the system through various means.
In general, there are many software tools available for implementing security features via Internet servers and in client devices that are connected to them over an Internet backbone. The current features of virus detection tools available on these servers are inadequate in protecting the servers and the clients connected to them, especially taking into consideration the ever-increasing and changing security threats and mounting end-user access requirements. The typical virus detection tools that reside in the storage media of the servers, and in general, in all computing devices, scan for viruses based on certain preset scanning options, such as manual scan or periodic automatic scan. These virus detection tools can also repair, to some extent, the files damaged by virus infection. If the files are irreparable, they are sometimes quarantined and the user is notified.
Periodic virus scanning in a computer (such as a PC or a server), as is often conducted by virus scanning tools, is of limited use. Running the virus tool post facto on the computer storage to detect viruses and other malware is one of major drawback of the current virus tools. The infiltration of malware code into a computing device takes place during the file transfer from the internet or from the peripheral devices, and sometimes, the scanning for viruses after the file transfer has taken place it too little too late.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art through comparison of such systems with the present invention.